


the adam and eve of shithead backstabbers

by bipp_splapl



Series: to reckon [11]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Afterlife, Awkward Conversations, Character Death, Dead People, F/M, Introspection, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, inspired by the thh manga and tbh any media with thh, it just is about their whole dynamic, its like also not, ok so i know it says leosaya and technically ya it is but, reupload, they are dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24993154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bipp_splapl/pseuds/bipp_splapl
Summary: leon kuwata and sayaka maizono wait at the pearly gates. { reupload from my "to reckon" series under death after death after death }
Relationships: Kuwata Leon & Maizono Sayaka, Kuwata Leon/Maizono Sayaka
Series: to reckon [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715428
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	the adam and eve of shithead backstabbers

**Author's Note:**

> ya so like. this is the chapter that inspired the whole series. and while yea it fits it also works a little more as a standalone than the others so i just wanted to publish it in a way where if you didn't feel like reading the whole series. you don't have to. 
> 
> very inspired by the manga and tbh any thh content. im a film major and tbh my philosophy is that if the series creator creates and approves it as valid material, it's canon in some universe. this whole fic uses the idea of sayaka being psychic as a way to explore the inseparable bond between leon and sayaka. they are perfect foils. god i think deeply.
> 
> also ty for being cool with me reuploading this one. i will probably reupload the epilogue fic as well as include it in the series doc bc that is also going to be a much more seperate standalone piece so i want readers the chance to read it without needing to read the rest. does that make sense.
> 
> ON THAT NOTE PLZ READ MY SERIES TO RECKON !!! It started as an anthology but i completed it under the fic "death after death after death." the best reading order is described if u look at its anthology collection page. additionally! i started an elaborate mobster!au for thh and sdr2. read that too. we stan 'the hand that rocks the cradle rocks the boat'

Polar opposites stand alone, nervously waiting with the same goal in mind. Their classmates notice but don’t approach. They all know someone’s coming. That the inevitable is near. Alone together, Leon and Sayaka have the chance to talk it out.

“This is beyond fucked”

“Hm?” Sayaka looks over, tilting her head in question. Her long blue hair falls to the side, a light breeze blowing strands in the wind. 

Leon didn’t know what to say at first. He couldn’t word it. How could you? Maybe if he paid more attention in class, he’d have, like, the metaphor or literary reference he needed. Were there books out there about having to introduce your friends/murder-game-compatriots-who-voted-for-your-execution-in-cold-blood to the afterlife alongside the girl you accidental-murdered after she tried to kill you? Hell of a niche, if so. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he decided to verbalize anyways.

“You know. This.” Awesome job, buddy.

Both stand silently, watching the gates, watching for something they never wanted to deal with again. Every time they hoped it would be the last. Maybe this time, it would be. Then all of a sudden, Leon turned back to ask, “Why me?” which makes Sayaka take a pause. 

“...in the simplest terms, it’s because I thought you had a crush-” (Leon scoffs, loudly adjusting his pleather as a way of saying _No-I-totally-did-not-and-even-if-I-did-I-wouldn’t-tell-you-now_ ) 

“-but on a more metaphysical, it’s us. It’s always us. Every reality I can see-”

“….a-always?”

“Almost always, yes.”

“... _and the exception?!”_

Sayaka hums, readjusting her sash. She didn’t need to wear it anymore. Her stab wound healed weeks ago. There was nothing to hold in. Still, the slight pressure made her feel grounded. She spoke without looking over, too busy fiddling with the sash. 

“One time one of us kills Kirigiri”

Her answer left him stunned. “Fuck, the detective? Really?!”

“I know it’s hard for me to believe, too…” Her voice trailed off, leaving Leon with on a cliffhanger. He waited a few seconds for her to continue the statement, but Sayaka said nothing, too focused on re-tying her bow with the perfect boxy middle. She hummed to herself in thought, a little ditty from her pop star days. After maybe another minute of waiting, he yanked his hands out of his pockets, waving them around for emphasis- 

“ _...Well, which one!?!”_

“Hm?” Sayaka had drifted off into space. “Oh! That’s hard to say. For some reason, it depends on our relationship with Makoto- 

“That fucking dweeb?”

“Language-” Blue eyes met bluer. One narrowed. The other stayed perfectly still, doe-eyed and earnest. _Well, no wonder their classmates voted for him_ , Leon thought to himself. Which one were you more likely to trust?

“As I was saying, the murder was between one of us, so I guess we’re a pair.” Her hands let go of the ribbon, letting it flop down to her side. The way the sunlight danced off her too-pale skin made her look almost transparent. That was his fault. A sudden wave of guilt overcame him, the same wave of guilt he felt every time he saw her, and he turned away.

“There’s a few other timelines, yes. One where we give up our talents-” ( _Oh, swag_ , Leon thought to himself)” and then one where we’re still trapped, and we all court Makoto for our affection” ( _I was kidding about him playing hero, but this shit’s ridiculous…)_ “-I know I don’t get it either-” ( _whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck)_ “Psychic, remember? Language.” ( _oh yea, sorry, Sayaka…)_

and then, silence. 

“Did you like him?” Leon asked, aiming his foot to kick a piece of gravel through the gate. Swinging it back, then forth, it made contact with the rock. Perfect shot. He still had it. 

Sayaka licks her lips and says, “On some fundamental level, I must have-”

“But you betrayed him,” Leon counters, gearing him for another shot. 

“I know.”

“And you betrayed me.” Kick. 

“I know, every time.”

……..

Sayaka turns to Leon and looks him in the eyes, and again, he chooses to look away. “There’s one world, just one, where I do kill you. It’s the one where I didn’t convince Makoto to bring home the sword, so you had nothing to defend yourself. B-but as soon as you were dead, I realized just how flawed my plan was. Sure, you were in Makoto’s room, but I was covered in your blood with no clever way to dispose of the evidence. I couldn’t throw things into the incinerator like you. With Makoto sleeping, I couldn’t grab a change of clothes or stash a weapon, a-and I had Sakura and Hina both as witnesses against my case, it was practically a confession. Makoto didn’t stand up for me. How could he, after he learned the blackened rules?” 

Leon stared at the ground for a long time, his ice-blue eyes filled with something like disgust. Jesus Christ, he could’ve told her that! Her plan was full of holes, every hole in the book. How he even remotely scraped, he had no idea. It’s not like she left much for him to work with. Turning, the baseball player looks her up and down, his icy gaze burning into her very existence with something best described as ‘hate.’ 

And he asks, rather coldly, “How’d you go?” Sayaka stares back at him a little stunned by the cutting remark, though it was to be expected. It was her fault they were in this mess. Behind all their amicable facades and yes, maybe even true friendship at this point, deep down, she knew Leon hated her for everything she put them through. She looks forward, her eyes welling up with tears. 

“I-I was standing on a bear trap. It was...like a karaoke contest where I was singing for my life, and I was standing on a bear trap, desperately trying to survive. I was... _so close_ but in the end, Monokuma- ...Junko cut the mic. So I failed. I was snapped in half before I could even register what was going on.”

With a sigh, Leon crouched to the ground. He coudln’t process this standing up. This was all...too much to take in. How the hell did she does every day? Being psychic’s gotta suck. Closing his eyes, he shoved his head between his knees. 

“God I was so lucky.”

Sayaka was stunned. She tried to make a few false starts, stumbling over her words, but eventually, Leon held a hand up towards her, queuing her to hush it. 

“Whatever they did, they did it wrong. Thematic? Sure. But after the first, like, ten seconds, all the pain fades into a dull thud, and it’s like...an out-of-body experience. It’s like….now? I guess?”

He looked back over towards her, leaning over just a tad. “Now if I told Junko that, you know she’d like, shit her pants or something.” Sayaka snorted, before quickly reaching to cover her mouth for such an unbecoming noise. He couldn’t help but snicker at her embarrassment. They were still friends. Maybe. He hoped, at least. 

And the snickering died down, leaving the two of them at the gates. His eyes were wet, welling tears. “I saw it in those final moments. Like...everything that happened. Our class. The tragedy. The time we missed. In those last moments, I understood total betrayal. Like don’t get me wrong, I felt betrayal when those…” hands waved around again before shoving his head back down, covering himself with his arms. “...when those shitheads voted for me to kick it. But yeah, no, I felt something different when I figured out what that bimbo bitch did to us.”

“And fuck man- Sayaka, I saw us. Are we just ignoring that elephant in the room?” His voice was muffled layers of fabric, but she still made out what he said, clear as day. And suddenly, he jerked up, staring wildly into her eye. Without seemingly noticing, Leon had streams of tears running down his cheeks. 

“We were a thing. A high school thing, a simple thing, a thing that ended and we could stay friends and joke about, _Hey remember when we dated? Gross, right?_ , but I really liked you. As much as a stupid fucking punkass could. You’re the one who helped inspire me to like, express myself, and I changed my whole…my whole thing for, y’ know? And I fucking- I f-fucking-” 

Before he could finish his sentence, Leon shoved his head into his legs and screamed, or maybe it was wailed. He couldn’t word it. He could never ever word it. But he could vocalize, only way he knew how.

Sayaka was unsure what to do in this situation, but something inside her softened. They were Kids. Murderers. Victims. But kids. She kneels next to him, and, unsure what to do with her hands, tries gently brushing his back. Her first instinct is to try humming quietly to him...which only makes him cry harder. 

After a moment of panicking, she finally sits down, slumping all of her weight on him, feeling her tears well. 

“I-it was a mistake, Leon. it was all my fault...you...y-you were trying to reason with me and if I-” 

“Christ, Sayaka, I know that!” He threw his arms in the air, causing Sayaka to lose her balance. “But it doesn’t make it better.”

Silence, and then the arms fall back down, drained. Defeated. After a moment’s pause, she leans her head on his shoulder. Leon glances at her and then looks forward again, his voice set. 

“We were a thing once, but we aren’t doin’ it again. I don’t feel those things anymore. It’s like…looking at a TV. I know those feelings were felt, but honestly? It doesn’t even seem like me.”

Sayaka nodded, breathing in iron and pot and the smell of blueberry perfume. He was right. Not ever again. 

Without notice, he jolted up again, causing her to flinch. He always moved like that. Sluggish then skittery, tired then frantic. Like a trapped animal, full of desperation and fear. 

“Why us? Why are we the fucking… Adam and Eve of shithead backstabbing murderers?” He stares wildly into her eyes, begging for an answer, but there is none. “You’re psychic! Y-ou’ve always been psychic, that’s why you can see this shit now, do you know?”

…

“... _do you know, Sayaka-”_

And she finally responds with a desperate, “No. not until the moments before it happened, before I saw you take my life. _That’s when I knew, but what could I do then?!_ ” 

“Jesus, is there a reality where I don’t kill you?” Nothing. Nothing. Sayaka is clutching her arms closer at this point, dry heaving. Trying to calm herself down and desperately failing. Leon pushes her off of him and frantically scoots away from her muttering _Jesus Christ_ before standing up and pointing at her:

“You’re fucking insane!”

“I was so afraid of losing my friends, my future- my- my-” 

“You framed Makoto and made me kill you.”

“I know, and I’m sorry”

“Do you know what this fucking does to a person?” Leon tries to shove his hands in his pockets, but he can’t, he has too much frantic energy. He keeps missing like a goddamned idiot, and eventually, he gives up, punching the air a few times. “Do you fucking know what it does to you? To put a knife in someone else? To feel their life leave their body under your own fucking hands I didn’t fucking mean to! You of all people know I didn’t mean to if you just _stayed still it would have never happened, not once not a_ **thousand** times over-” 

Sayaka is wheezing, tears crusting her face. He should stop yelling. He was making this worse. But what if he wanted to make it worse? What if he wanted her to feel a second of the panic he went through for the twenty-four hours from hell? What if he wanted her to suffer, just once. She died out. He did too. Even the playing field for all the other trauma, why don’t ya?

“I’m sorry-”

“-bullshit-”

“-but whatever could have happened, it doesn’t matter. This is it. This is our play. This is our end scene and this stupid…job we were assigned is our curtain call-”

“They’re dead, Sayaka! Your industry, your crew, your managers, your makeup department, your tour managers, all of em! They’re all dead.”

“ _stop it-_ ”

“-nothing you did, nothing you could have done, would have mattered-”

“-Leon, s-stop it-” 

“Jesus you couldn’t even kill me right!”

…

“You couldn’t even win a stupid fucking trial-”

She slaps him, hard, before pulling back into herself, the same scared girl in the bathroom. He went too far. Fuck, he went too far. Leon stares at her, horrified by his actions. Horrified by who they had become. Maybe Junko never needed to push the envelope. Maybe this was just...them. 

Of course his classmates voted him guilty. Who would you believe? 

Having calmed herself down enough, Sayaka glances up, giving him what might have passed for a smile, if he hadn’t known better. “At least you had enough sense to try and stop me.” 

Swallowing audibly, the baseball player turned, walking away. Hands shoved into his coat, desperately grabbing at the inside fabric. Sayaka desperately climbs to her feet, scrambling after him, but he only moves faster. 

“Where are you going? We have to wait for Sakura.” 

Leon simply shakes his head. 

“I gotta...I gotta go throw up or something. I got some shit to work out.”

**Author's Note:**

> ya i like do and dont ship leosaya. like i do not think they would be a particularly healthy ship even in nondespair bc of how much they go against each other in every way. but its like a fun dynamic to write because they were created as perfect foils, tracing all the way back to the distrust days. idk. they're fun to write but i definitely do not like. get soft for that pairing. 
> 
> tbh they remind me of every hyper toxic high school couple who would come crashing down in a blaze of glory, and honestly? iconic of them truly.


End file.
